WHERE: Lake Merritt United Methodist Church,1330 Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland

SPEAKERS: Michelle Alexander, Director, Racial Justice Project, D'wayne Wiggins of Tony! Toni! Tone!

On Tuesday, May 25, at 7:00 PM, East Bay residents are invited to tell their stories of race-based police stops at a townhall meeting sponsored by PUEBLO (People United for a Better Oakland) and the Oakland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Michelle Alexander, Director of the ACLU-NC Racial Justice Project, will speak about the problem of racial profiling and the project's efforts to stop race-based traffic stops by California law enforcement agencies. Alexander will also report on SB 78 (Murray), a bill in the state Legislature which would require law enforcement to collect data on the race and ethnicity of all drivers who are stopped. Also speaking will be D'wayne Wiggins whose song about his own experience "Driving While Black or Brown" will be played. Assemblymembers Dion Aroner and Audie Bock are scheduled to attend the meeting.

On April 14, the ACLU of Northern California announced a statewide campaign to publicize its "Driving While Black or Brown" hotline. Since the hotline's initiation in October 1998, more than 1400 persons have called to report their stories of race-based police traffic stops. [The hotline has been discontinued. For legal matters contact the ACLU of Northern California's legal counseling line at 415-621-2488.]

For more information about the townhall meeting, call ACLU-NC at (415) 621-2493.